Oddly enough, it's a project I'll soon be undertaking. Only yesterday I stripped the mk3 A/C heater box down and refurbished the flaps. I'll do a bit of a write up on my build thread as it progresses.
Incidentally, if you see a short a/c shelf come up, let me know!
If the wipers don't park, it'll almost certainly be the 12v feed to the wipers: There is a switched live to the wipers, that keep them going, in the event you switch them off mid wipe. This will allow the wipers to move back to their home position. If you've lost this, they'll just stop wherever you turn the stalk off.
Before we got locked down, I managed to move the car home and stuck it in the (tiny) garage. I can't do the major works, but at least I can still tinker.
Started off with a very simple mod, but I think it's lifted look of the engine. By fitting blue (R36) coil pack connector covers Then I gave it a bit of a clean
So I then moved on to two jobs at once. About a year ago, Jimbo kindly donated some electric windows to me, for helping chop a car up. Unfortunately, storage hadn't been kind and it needed a little TLC before installation
A bloody good clean and some Solution Finish later...
Before I fit any loom, it always has to get wrapped up...
I was also trying to get the heated seat pads I had installed into the Corrado seats working. Jury's still out if they work properly or not!
Lastly, I'd always hated how mk2 battery connectors look like they're ready to fall apart. So when I broke a mk4 back in the Winter, I kept them, fair bit of difference in cable size too. Much better
the DS2500s were great, but I wonder if there is a better alternative out there.
In my experience, DS2500 are a decent fast road pad, but people often complain of vibration which is due to pad deposits after track use.
They are OK but there are far better pads available. The best pads for stock calipers I`ve used are Carbon Lorraine. RC5 or RC6. The RC6 is more track focussed. They run hotter than DS2500 but are in a different class regarding pedal feel and braking performance imo.
Well, as luck would have it, Christmas came around and Paulina bought me a set of CL RC5+ pads :party!: I held off fitting them until a couple of days before my first track day of the year at Combe. I'm made up with them, I can now brake so hard going into Tower it makes my eyes feel funny! Unfortunately, due to a manufacturing fault, my clutch let go towards the end of my fourth session, that prematurely ended the day, thanks Sachs :roll:
Didn't find that out until last weekend, as Paulinas Charged VR build took president of my time.
So this weekend, I could turn my attention back to playing with the car. First up was the installation of a set of Corrado seats that I'd had retrimmed in the stock Ultraviolet material.
Absolutely love the result! They're much more comfortable than the mk2 seats and the average person wouldn't be able to tell. Also, as they sit much lower, it means I can fit in the car with a crash helmet on! :lol:
Next came up was a pair of Audioscape door pods. I'd lusted after a set back in the 90s, but could never afford a set. These came up on Facebook at a reasonable price, complete with Phoenix Gold drivers, so I had them. Very pleased with the finish of them too.
On Sunday, because of socal distancing and all, we set our sights on cleaning the cars. Mine just needed a wash and wax, but paulinas Corrado had been sat in the unit for 6 months. That took a TFR snow foam, contact clean, clar bar, polish and then a wax before it came up good again, but both cars now look much better.
And finally one of the last parts I need arrived, so I can begin the A/C project...
I've mainly been enjoying the car, with several meets (including the National one) and a track day at Combe.
I've always been aware that the brakes are a little lacking, so I've been doing a little research and found that some of the best ones to use for brake clearance are Compomotive MO5s, unfortunately, they haven't been made for years! After much looking on eBay, I found a set of 4x100 wheels up in Scotland and the chap very kindly packaged them up, so I could get them couriered down.
Unfortunately, when they arrived, the spigot was too small and there was no bored hole for the centre cap to go. After a little searching I found out they came off of a Nova rally car in the 90s!
Anyhow, off to my local machine shop they went, who done an excellent job of boring the holes for the spigot and the standard centre caps. Managed to get them on 2 days before the track day :cool:
Had a bloody good day on the track day, right up until I felt the brakes go a little weak. So done a cool down lap and came in to assess the situation: Turns out I'd turned all four brake discs blue, burnt the pads (the calipers used to be bright red!) and started to melt my brand new centre caps! :shock:
I put an infra red thermometer on them, to find it went straight into over temp - the thing maxes out at 350 degrees, so no idea what they actually were!!
Anyhow, that ended my track day a little early, but still, a great day was had by all! But I decided to pull the car off the road to get serious about the brakes.
I'd seen a photo of a set of 312s under a set of 15" MOs and decided to have a go myself:
First thing was to source a cheap set of calipers, after a £45 punt on ebay a full set of (ropey) calipers, carriers and nearly new discs turned up. So straight into the sand blaster they went and turns out they were in great nick under the rust! Couple coats of high temp paint (checked the can 800 degrees!) Followed by a rebuild And then they were ready for fitment
So next was some trial and error trying to persuade them to fit on a set of G60 hubs. Turns out redrilled mk6 gti discs fit with 6mm spacers for the caliper carriers works a treat :cool:
So the new brakes were sorted, but I wasn't going to be taking any more chances on the cooling side of things. First off was to make a bracket for the hub that would take some cooling ducts... Quick CAD template That's Cardboard Aided Design :wink: Followed by a metal counterpart, think 3mm plate might have been a little OTT, but with the m12 bolts, it'll hold the duct in place! Should give you an idea of where we're going with it. Quick splash of paint
And this is the overall idea...
With the business end of the ducting taken care of, it was a simple matter of sorting the feed end...
Now I've just got to save up for a decent set of pads!
So, picked her up again on Saturday with a fresh MOT. Most of the snagging has been done, the underside has been welded where needed and fully undersealed. :smile: I've been promised a memory stick with a couple of hundred photos of all the work that has been done, so expect a photo dump at some point :wink:
Anyhow, more shiny paint photos...
And I bought these badges nearly 2 years ago! Because the paintwork was always awful, I never stuck them on, knowing I'd get the chance eventually
Well, she's been shipped off for a full, doors off, windows out body resto!
But I pulled out the headlining (or lack of it!) and have been trying the paper mache approach...
Going to seal the other side with PVA, which will hopefully give the new Heritage material a better chance of staying put when I glue it on.
Well, I'm happy to say that my attempt at arts and crafts last week has appeared to work. The broken quarter of the headlining is back on and the whole things feels stable again.
Although I'm not going to recover it until the car is a week or so away.
Speaking of which, popped over to have a peek at it on the weekend.
So far, they have removed the kit, hunted for all the rot on the car and duly cut it out.
Quite pleased actually, that is all the rot they could find on her. Just waiting on a new sill from Heritage to arrive, then it all starts getting welded back up :smile:
I've been a little quiet on this one of late, just been letting the bodyshop guys get on with it. It turns out once they started really stripping things down, there was much more rot that first spotted... Needing a fair bit of work And a couple new wings
So I left them to it for a few weeks and went in last week to find this
No rot in any of the nasty places fortunately
Wheel arch prepped for paint too
And the nasty holes are a thing of the past
Can't wait to get her back and rebuilt! :cool:
Ok this update makes me more excited! :jackson: Bad news, not getting it back this Friday, probably Monday now. Good news:
So happy with how it's come out! Couple of reflection shots...
Been a while since I've updated this one! Took it to Inters, where it went well round the track, did have a little issue with setting fire to the brakes. Also the temps started to rise after a while (was a 30 minute session).
Saw the opportunity to get it on a rolling road for a power run while I was there
Made a fantastic noise! (click for vid) Untitled by Dave Ackerman, on Flickr Along with a stonking 271.9bhp!! :jackson:
So fast forward to last weekend, I've got just over two weeks before the annual Nurburgring trip. Decided to do a couple of upgrades, based on the performance at Inters. First off was the brakes, I wanted to retain the 15" wheels, but couldn't afford 4 pots etc. So decided on some Brembo discs, Ferodo Racing DS2500 pads and some Moutul 660 fluid.
Next was the cooling, in the below pic, you can see I've used a 2nd hand Corrado VR6 rad. Pretty good for normal driving, but the track on a hot day required a little more. So on went an ebay special alloy radiator, only £150 and seems pretty well made :thumbs:
I do have some brake ducts to replace the front fog lights (lights are useless anyway!), but I need to make a bracket for them first, so maybe in a week.
Bit of an update.
Gave the old girl a proper clay bar and a wax, something I've never tried as the paint was always dodgy. Also hit up the plastics with Solution Finish, came up surprisingly well
Next stop was the annual Nurburgring trip! Wasn't completely without fault, car decided not to start one day. Turns out, in a previous life, it had an immobiliser that was removed and not quite put back together right. 30 mins later and all was well again. Other than that, the car ran well, got a fair few laps in without any major issues Which reminds me, must actually buy a few of those photos...
Got back from the Nurburgring on the Tuesday and went straight for the National Meet on the Friday! Then proceeded to hammer the hell out of it for the majority of the weekend, talk about a baptism of fire... Must fit that Quaife I've got on the shelf.
Finally, with the weather turning, it transpired that the track tyres were't the best in the rain. Also, with the possibility of it having to do a lot of mileage coming up, I thought it would be a good idea for a set of winter rims. When a set of BBS wheels came up with nearly new Toyos on for £200, 10 miles from where I was going to be, it was rude not to...
So this week, I got the car insured and taxed. It's maiden voyage was straight to get the tracking done, as quite frankly, it was horrific to drive. As soon as the tracking was done, the car started behaving. It's amazing what pointing the wheels in the same direction can do for the handling of a car...
After a fair bit of 'testing', I realised that I need decent tyres. Unfortunately, I can't have 16s and track rubber, as the sidewalls are too big, so I needed some 15s.
I happened to have some in stock, they came on a valver we bought a couple of years back... I like the idea of Sebrings as they could have been on the car originally and would have a sleeper effect. But they had to go silver first...
There was still a little time left for some badge engineering (yes, I will straighten the number plate!)
Lastly, it was parked back in the unit, which made for a photo opportunity.
First off, got the old exhaust off, think it was very much due a change. Obligatory comparison shot:
Next, my new Mk4 shifter setup arrived, so that got fitted, which allowed me to finally fit the heat shield and awesome Trackslag exhaust. Also put the rear ARB on...
Managed to put a little time in on Sunday, but the Snow didn't help! Got the car turning over, but the ECU doesn't seem to be starting, so no fuel or spark.
Then in March, this happened: Well, it turns out I'd missed a +12v for the injectors. Once wired up, this happened... Made up is an understatement! :party!:
I've since tidied up a lot of the wiring and ran the engine up to temperature, so far everything seems to be ok. I've still got a laundry list of snags to get everything working properly (oil pressure switches, outside air temp etc...), but I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel!!
OK, quick update. Been busy over this weekend, but got more done on the Mk2. The hubs were always in a bit of a sorry state and couldn't go back on looking like this.
Stripped them down, painted them and put new bearings/hub flanges in...
The wishbones and driveshafts got similar treatment
Started off by removing the engine and completing the pedalbox and clutch master install Also ran the loom in
The plan was to have the engine out and back in again in one weekend. So I pulled the box off to fit the flywheel and clutch, to find out that I've managed to loose the pressure plate bolts :wtf?!: Which ment the engine and box ended up looking like this: Nevertheless, there was still plenty to do, so I moved on to the subfame Paulina got the Krust out and started treating every piece of rust in site, while I refurbished the steering rack and built things back up again Lick of paint later and everything was ready for the refit Lastly, I bought a set of ARBs off Jimbo and pulled them off his old car. The front Eibach one was good, the rear Weitec one was pretty rusty, so that was treated and painted.
So, another couple of weeks have passed, lots of progress made.
Got the engine in last weekend for the final fit. That allowed me to measure up the coolant and induction side of things, this week the bits arrived.
Along with this sweet Trackslag system Can't wait to get it fitted, but the mk4 shifter mechanism has still to arrive.
So I moved on to getting the bay sorted out Just the wiring to finish and then I can try to get it started
Then, in January 2018, this happened... Didn't get as far as I wanted to, but it's a start
I wasted no time in stripping the engine out and seeing what I had to work with... Condition was not too bad, however with all the foliage in the scuttle, I did expect David Bellamy to pop out at any moment!
However, it wasn't long before Paulina came along and got stuck in...
...and a great job she did! ironically, the engine bay paintwork was the best on the whole car.
Meanwhile, I set about stripping the GTI body kit off and got to work with the Solution Finish
Next day, Paulina took over the trim restoration while I looked at the pedal box. Made up a bracket for the DBW accelerator pedal And trial fitted in the car
Which brings us up to this weekend. Spent a good amount of Saturday splitting down the TT loom and marked up the remaining wiring for splicing into the Golf However, I only got so far before I needed to trial fit the engine in order to work out the best place for the ECU mounting and wire routing. So today, this happened Had the engine for nearly a year, it's almost going to be a shame to pull it all back out again!
Being a nice weekend, thought it would be a good idea to try and address something that's been bugging me for ages. Namely the bonnet. Now it's always my plan to get the whole car resprayed (good god, it needs it), but right now I don't have the finds for it. So I got a few cans of paint from Halfords and thought i'd give it a go myself, let's face it, I couldn't make it any worse!! It's a little stripey, but it's still an improvement Cheers, those others were just too much on the car!!
Anyhow, I've been busy trying to make it less and less shonky. This time, I decided to tackle the reason the drivers wing sat to close to the grill. you can just about see it in this shot Didn't take long to find out what was wrong... Despite the fact it was composed primarily of rust, it didn't want to come out without a fight. However, the drill, the hammer and copious amounts of swearing later... Offered up the new Heritage part to reveal a good fit :thumbs: Hour or so later and I was much happier I will get this car tidy
Untitled by Dave Ackerman, on Flickr
